The dance was a moment out of time. It was a slow, unconsciously binding moment, one she didn’t know how to fight.
As it drew to a close, he pulled back and stared down at her for a long, unbroken moment.
Just when she thought his head would lower that last inch and his lips would touch hers where God and everyone could see the intimacies they shared, he pulled back instead.
“Rafer?” she questioned, wondering why he suddenly seemed so distant.
“Later,” he said softly. “I’ll call later.”
She stepped to the curb as he pulled from her completely, then turned and walked away.
She watched as he crossed the street, the self confidence in his walk, the strength of his shoulders, and the lift of his head drawing more than one feminine gaze.
What the hell was he up to?
“And the gossip ensues,” Emma drawled behind her. “Not only does Rafer Callahan show up, but so does his cousin, Miss Anna Corbin.”
Cami turned to her friend, then followed the direction of her look.
Another bitter loss of her past, Cami thought, as she saw the young woman entering the bar with another familiar face.
Amelia Sorenson.
She and Cami had once been as close as sisters. Collaborators, conspirators, and cohorts, they used to say.
Until that final year in college when Amelia had broken all ties with her and that friendship has disappeared.
And people wondered why she avoided commitment like the plague.
“Her daddy let her out to play?” Cami questioned quietly in amusement. The fact that Anna Corbin rarely came to Sweetrock was no secret.
“Oh, sweetie, that so is not the end of it,” Emma drawled.
The most interesting bit of gossip was the fact that the Corbin son, and heir William, Crowe’s uncle, and James Corbin, the patriarch, were given a fierce, heated dressing-down by Miss Anna. The first of the week when he and daddy Willy were arguing with Saul Rafferty over the fact that they couldn’t run the Callahan cousins out of town.
Said to be the spitting image of her deceased aunt, Kimberly Corbin, and named for her, Anna Corbin insisted that the Corbin, Rafferty, and Roberts families were rumored to be temperamental and a pain in the ass when it came to authority. Of course, how anyone could be certain, Cami didn’t know. Her parents had hired tutors when she was young, then sent her to private schools in California and Texas until college. She was currently attending a very exclusive Eastern college and vacations were always spent in some exotic location with her family.
“Oh, really?” Cami asked, silently prodding Emma for information.
“Definitely, really,” Emma assured her. “She insisted that the Corbin family was turning into monsters where her cousins were concerned, and if they weren’t all careful, she was going to return to fix the situation herself. I hear she dropped her little bomb, then lifted that pert little nose of hers and stalked right out of the house and headed to Amelia’s. The Sorensons are rather close with the Corbins I hear.”
The last Cami had heard of Amelia, she had detested the Corbins, but that had been years ago, Cami admitted silently.
“And who was sharing all this interesting information?” Cami arched her brows as she sat on the low cement wall behind her and watched as Amelia and Anna stepped from the bar and found an empty table.
The blowup was recounted by a maid who was promptly fired, paid off, and forced to leave the county, I hear. No one said the Corbins don’t know how to move quickly or live with enough drama to create their own soap opera,” the other woman said, laughing.
“I hadn’t heard any of it,” Cami admitted.
“Because you’ve stayed locked in your room rather than joining us in the teachers’ lounge,” Emma pointed out. “But dearest, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, if the gossip I’m hearing is true. Teachers, administrators, and entire families are now discussing the past, resurrecting it, dissecting it, and coming closer by the day to rejudging the Callahan cousins.” Emma tossed her head with amused mockery. “Bastards. They should have done that, what? Twelve years ago?”
Emma wasn’t a native of Sweetrock or Corbin County. She well understood school and county politics, but that didn’t mean she agreed with any of them.
“Twelve years ago,” Cami agreed softly.
Emma’s expression morphed swiftly to regret. “Oh hell, Cami, I’m sorry. I forgot that was the same summer—”
Cami gave her head a quick shake to silence her friend. She didn’t want to hear the rest of it.
“It’s okay, Emma,” she promised her. “But the time line is right. And I agree with you. They should have thought of this then, rather than now.”
Emma sat down beside her, her hands braced on the edge of the seat as she breathed out heavily. “My parents would have had a stroke had a child been treated so cruelly in school as I heard they were. Your barons, as they’re called, have a lot to answer for, my dear.”
“They’re not my anything,” Cami sighed. “And the influence they had then was strong, Emma. It still is, though it’s diluted a bit over the years.”
“Damned good thing,” Emma sighed. “I would have been fired had another child been treated that way. I would have had to have my say, you know.”
“That red hair,” Cami agreed softly. “But I know what you mean. I had a few rather heated fights myself with several individuals, despite the fact that they were out of school.”
They were silent then, staring at the dancers, occasionally glancing at Anna Corbin and Amelia Sorenson as they seemed deep in conversation.
“Tell me,” Emma’s voice lowered. “Was there ever a connection proven between the grandparents’, parents’, and Clyde Ramsey’s deaths?”
Cami’s head swung around to stare at the other girl in surprise. “Excuse me?”
Emma frowned. “There was no connection?”
“Not as far as the cousins believe. And if they had believed it, we would have heard about it,” Cami answered without answering the underlying question regarding the connection.
“Damn, I was hoping for more county-wide conspiracy and mystery,” Emma sighed ruefully.
Cami gave a light, forced laugh, hoping Emma didn’t catch the fact that she was uncomfortable with the subject.
It took a few moments, but she was able to steer the conversation back to the school, the teachers, and the upcoming socials.
She didn’t want to talk about Rafe, and unless there was more information than simply gossip, then she didn’t want to talk about any other Corbin either.
After a final drink, Cami rose and wished her friend a good night before turning and crossing the street to head home.
As she rounded the first block and the lights became a bit dimmer and the streets much quieter, she could feel a distinct tingle along the back of her shoulders.
Once, long ago, she and Jaymi used to play a game. Jaymi would follow her, or Cami would follow her sister, and the one who caught sight of the other the quickest was the winner.
Even Tye, Jaymi’s husband, had joined in the game while he and Jaymi had dated.
Cami had developed a feeling, a tension at her back that let her know whenever Jaymi was stalking her. She could feel that tingle now, but she knew it wasn’t her sister following her.